Desire Lobo (Kinshasa Manmin Church, D.R. Congo)


I want to testify to how God protected me from the danger of death.
It has been four years since I was assigned to Bunia Ituri Operation as an army colonel. In the area, 8 armed rebels have taken over the territories, blocking government forces from approaching. The two tribes have always been at odds, and reconciliation has failed over and over again. More than 50 people were killed every day, and the rebels killed not only government troops, but also common citizens, including children and the elderly.
In fact, in a year, we ambushed 12 times trying to talk to the rebels. In the meantime, I had to watch people get killed, and it was strange that my life was being kept. This life-threatening situation came under great pressure, but I thought I had to sacrifice my life for the sake of peace in my country.


▲ Elder Sebastien Impeto of Kinshasa Manmin Church(left) and the couple of Desire Lobo

One day, the rebels have expressed their willingness to welcome us and have only asked a few people to come in without weapons.
Finally, on February 16, I usually moved with more than 100 soldiers, but that day I went into the rebel area unarmed with representatives of two tribes from the Bunia region to give them trust.
But that was their tactic to catch us. They bound us right away and asked the psychic of the shrine, where their idols and spirits of the dead were worshiped, whether they would kill us. The psychic of the shrine told us to kill us.
They immediately made us fall to the ground and sharpened their swords. And we started to make a fire to burn our bodies. Then they said, “We have our god Codedo. Ask your god, too, to see if your god saves you.” And they tried to kill one of the representatives of the tribes who came with me.
Then, I got up reflexively and said, “Dr. Jaerock Lee’s God! Dr. Jaerock Lee’s God!” They started laughing. “Is your god a doctor? Do you serve oriental god?” They made fun of me.
I cried and kept muttering, “Dr. Jaerock Lee’s God!” At that time, the rebel, who seemed to be the captain, suddenly received a phone call from headquarters, and after the call, he changed his word that he would not kill us that day, but kill us the next day.
We were imprisoned in a forest. They have always killed the prisoners according to the psychic’s will, however, it was a miracle to go against the psychic’s will and keep us alive.
I didn’t think I could escape from there and survive. So, while preaching the gospel of holiness to them, I continued to ask them to send me to a church. But to my surprise, they allowed me to go to church.

As soon as I entered the church, I prayed to praise God for saving me from the danger of death. The members who heard my prayer asked me to testify, and I shared the gospel of holiness and Dr. Jaerock Lee. Despite the suppression of the rebels, I was able to continue preaching by the pastor and the members of the church who received grace.
Not only this but even more surprising was that the pastor was the only one who knew of an escape route from the dungeon area to the government troops’ camp.
I fasted and prayed for 7 days to escape safely under God’s protection. Finally, God’s miracle happened.
On the night of the sixth day of fasting, I managed to escape from the guards. Then I met the pastor who had prepared a car and was waiting for me, and I ran from midnight to 5 am and was able to arrive safely at the government troops’ camp on April 12. Hallelujah!
Praise God for his omnipotence and greatness.


▲ After the successful escape


▲ Desire Lobo and Pastor Noah(right)

When colonel Desire, a prisoner of the rebel, first came to our church, I gave him the opportunity to speak in front of the members.
Through his message, many members received grace and wanted to hear more. I asked him to come again.
After that, colonel Desire came to our church and preached the Word, and many members received great grace. He asked for intercession. And, I and our members became very close to him as we prayed for him and the other prisoners.
His tribe and ours have been at each other’s throats since the days of Belgian colonialism. So at first, I had no desire to talk to him or help him. However, when I received grace from the Word and came to know the situation they were in, I thought about how to help them.
That was something that had to be done at the risk of life. Finally, after several attempts, they managed to escape the dungeon, and because I was familiar with the area, I was able to lead them by a shortcut from the forest where the rebel base was. God’s hand protected them, and God used me as His instrument to help them.